1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mechanical apparatus for manually programming calculators and business machines having depressible key or button inputs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rapid technical advances in the production of large scale integrated (LSI) circuits have made possible the introduction of many different models of hand-held, programmable electronic calculators. Some of these models employ magnetic cards for loading a series of program steps into the calculator, while other calculators must be manually loaded each time a new program is chosen. The present programming apparatus is directed toward the manually programmable electronic calculators and provides a rapid and accurate method of easily loading a series of program steps into the manually operated hand-held electronic calculator.
The manually operated programming apparatus is preferable in several important respects to its electronic equivalent. First, a single step within the program may easily be revised in the mechanical storage configuration without repeating the loading operations of the entire program as is required on the electronically programmed calculators. Secondly, a single manual programming apparatus may be utilized to load programs into several different electronic calculators of the same type, thus alleviating the requirement for each of the electronic calculators to have separate loading and recording capabilities. Third, a manual programming apparatus can be designed for each programmable electronic calculator, regardless of the manufacture, that utilizes depressible keys or buttons to insert the program. Thus, any keyboard and calculator case configuration can be accomodated by this invention. The programming card for the mechanical configuration may be altered to reflect different keyboard nomenclature for several different models of manually programmable calculators. Fourth, the programming card utilized by the manual programming apparatus is resistant to the effects of intense electrical or magnetic radiation which may cause the erasure of conventional magnetic storage mediums utilized in the electronically programmable hand calculators.
Edminister et al in U.S. Pat. No. 2,800,539 disclose a programming apparatus to be used in conjunction with a business machine having a movable carriage for operating electrical switches in response to the position of the carriage. This programming apparatus utilizes a punched paper tape to store the program. Godlove et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,230,357 disclose a programming apparatus for sequentially filling information into a digital differential analyzer. Di Cambio in U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,991 discloses a programming apparatus for skipping, at high speeds, program steps in an electronic commutator-type program control unit.